Turkey’s Transatlantic Relationship.

Turkey and its Allies:

Paths of Divergence and Convergence

When Turkey joined NATO sixty years ago, NATO was a different kind of an Alliance than the one it has evolved into today, and Turkey was a far more different country, compared to the regionally proactive player it has become today. The place of Turkey as a predominantly ‘functional’ ally in the first two phases in the evolution of NATO and then as a ‘strategic partner’ in the last phase is examined and followed by the likely points of continuing cooperation with NATO and likely divergence of interests in the long term.

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By Gülnur AYBET 

The transformation of Turkey’s relationship with NATO in the past sixty years has especially been profound in the last decade. The Alliance survived its transition from Cold War to post Cold War era because it kept in sight its original grand strategy of preserving a ‘way of life’, although the means to achieve this were altered with predominance in collective defence to a predominance in collective security. Throughout this time, Turkey acted first as a flank country and then a frontline country as the importance of the Middle East rose after the first Gulf War in 1991, but nevertheless was seen by its NATO allies as a ‘functional ally’. As NATO grappled to come to terms with a new grand strategy for a new era, particularly after the fall out over the military intervention in Iraq in 2003, Turkey continued to be relegated to the sidelines in the larger transatlantic debates, although it played a crucial role in shaping outcomes in that crisis.

After the threat of Turkey’s hard power in the region, from 2007 onwards, there was a marked difference from Turkey’s NATO allies towards its regional security concerns. From 2009, as Turkey embarked on a far more proactive regional role, this time, dependent on its soft power, NATO by contrast started to become a much more technocratic organisation, seeking to fulfil certain roles, regional or global in partnership with others. Although NATO eventually took over the Libyan intervention, with a legal backing and regional cooperation, nevertheless, its role was not similar to its leadership as a normative organisation in the Balkans in 1990s. While NATO as an asset of multilaterism in region, in contrast to ad hoc coalitions of U.S. led initiatives may be an attractive alternative for Turkey, there are nevertheless likely divergences between short and long term threat perceptions between Turkey and the Alliance. Despite this, for the foreseeable future, both Turkey and NATO will adjust to a new relationship, one which sees a more functional Alliance and a more strategic driver in Turkey in their regional involvement.

 

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